Four of Lee County’s 10 rated public schools earned Virginia’s top rating, “Distinguished,” in the state’s newest school performance results, and all 10 are fully accredited. Rose Hill and St. Charles elementary schools, along with Jonesville and Pennington middle schools, received the top label.
The Virginia Department of Education released the results on October 7, the second year of its School Performance and Support Framework, the Virginia Mercury reported. The Lee Daily Register pulled the county’s school-by-school ratings, test scores and enrollment from the state’s School Quality Profile for Lee County Public Schools, as posted on October 23.
How each school was rated
| School | Performance level | Framework score |
|---|---|---|
| Rose Hill Elementary | Distinguished | 93.19 |
| St. Charles Elementary | Distinguished | 92.92 |
| Dryden Elementary | Meets Expectations | 88.07 |
| Flatwoods Elementary | Approaching Expectations | 87.01 |
| Elk Knob Elementary | Meets Expectations | 86.37 |
| Pennington Middle | Distinguished | 91.93 |
| Jonesville Middle | Distinguished | 90.68 |
| Elydale Middle | Meets Expectations | 90.32 |
| Lee High | Meets Expectations | 95.34 |
| Thomas Walker High | Meets Expectations | 86.84 |
The label and the score do not always line up the way readers might expect. Lee High has the county’s highest framework score, 95.34, but is rated Meets Expectations, and Flatwoods Elementary’s 87.01 sits above Elk Knob’s 86.37 with a lower label. The profile does not explain how the labels are assigned, and the Virginia Department of Education’s website, which publishes the framework’s rules, could not be reached for this story.
Against the state and the neighbors
Statewide, 44% of schools were rated Distinguished, 26% Meets Expectations, 23% Approaching Expectations and 7% Needs Intensive Support, according to the Mercury. Lee County’s split is 40% Distinguished, 50% Meets Expectations and 10% Approaching, with no school in the lowest group.
Nearby divisions landed in different places. All 11 Wise County schools and both Norton city schools are rated Distinguished on their profiles. In Scott County, 7 of 13 schools are Distinguished, and one is listed as Needs Intensive Support.
Test scores: level with Virginia
On state reading tests, 74% of Lee County students passed in 2025-26, the same as the year before and the same as the statewide rate. In math, 74% passed, up from 72% and one point above the state’s 73%.
The gaps inside those numbers are wider. In math, 81% of students without disabilities passed, compared with 50% of students with disabilities, though that group’s rate rose from 43% a year earlier. In reading, the comparable rates were 81% and 50%. Economically disadvantaged students passed reading at 74% and math at 75%, close to the county as a whole.
The neighbors again stand apart. Wise County’s profile shows pass rates of 90% in both reading and math, while Scott County’s shows 75% in reading and 64% in math.
Fewer students
The school system is shrinking faster than the state. Fall enrollment, counted each September 30, fell from 2,966 in 2024-25 to 2,850 in 2025-26, a drop of 116 students, or about 3.9%, by The Lee Daily Register’s calculation. Statewide enrollment fell about 1.2% over the same year, from 1,261,670 to 1,246,544, according to the state profile.
Second grade had the largest drop, from 210 to 173 students, and pre-kindergarten fell from 189 to 156 children. The 2,850 total includes pre-K. Without it, the count is 2,694, close to the 2,702 students the county’s 2025 Comprehensive Plan reported for this school year.
Each school has its own profile on the same site, with test results by grade and subject. Families can look up a specific school through the School Quality Profiles search page.
